Monday, May 10, 2010

Harvest Monday - 10 May 2010

Well earlier in the week I told you that I harvested the first of my radishes and lettuce, but I made you wait until today for the pretty photo. There is something about bright red radishes against the green that I've always loved. I like the round ones better in the photos, but I grow for what I like to eat. French Breakfast and White Icicle radishes are my favorite. The White Icicle radishes weren't quite ready yet so I'll have at least one more radish harvest later on. I've only really succeeded in growing radishes in the early spring here after that they just don't bulb up well for me. I'll keep trying them in the fall. Occasionally I get a few.

And that is not all! I harvested the last kale plant as it was starting to bolt. It still tastes good, but isn't as good as the kale that was picked in January.

Then I had more of the overwintered spinach to pick. I'm slowly pulling them out as they start bolting. I always wonder what makes one spinach bolt a couple of weeks before another plant. By the end of this week, I'm sure they will all have been pulled. I might or might not get a harvest from my spring spinach. They are still pretty small and they may bolt before a real harvest.

I did spend money this week. I needed some jute for my two trellises. My peas are getting tall and they really need to have that twine put on. I like to make my trellises with jute because I can just cut it all down at the end of the year and compost it. It makes for quick clean up. Occasionally I wish I used something like a cattle panel that is reusable, but it is so hard to get those little tendrils off at the end of the year.

Lettuce: 0.22 lbs

Kale: 0.44 lbs

Spinach: 0.48 lbs

Radish: 0.71 lbs

Total week: 1.85 lbs

Total year: 2.97 lbs

Spent this week: $5.29

Tally: -183.41

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to show off, add your name and like to Mr Linky below.

kitsapFG, I put mine in a bit later that usual. I wish I could remember to succession sow for a couple of weeks, but at least they store in the fridge really well. I want more overwintered kale too, but that is for me. I liked being able to harvest over the wither.

villager, I hope so too, but usually in mid May it all bolts.

prue, it has been very delicious. It is funny. This time of the year I'm dying for greens. In the middle of June I start to wish for anything but as that is all I eat for a while. Then I'm dying for my summer vegetables to start to produce.

henbogle, I messed up with my turnips. I was supposed to plant them when I planted my radishes. I hope they make it since they just germinated.

I haven't harvested anything quite yet, but maybe next week. I might have thinnings of greens, enough for a salad. I can't believe what is happening in your garden! Do we really both live in Massachusetts?

My refrigerator is full of radishes, but my lettuce is still too small to do more than pick a few outer leaves. I did succession plantings, but it looks as though the first two will all be ready at the same time. I did succession plantings of the radishes too, but the last few I pulled were chewed up by wire worms, so I have a feeling the later ones will not be very good. They certainly have been mild and crisp, with all this cold weather.

Wow, everything looks so pretty and delicious. I love the look of radishes but stopped growing them because I don't eat them, I don't hate them though, I just prefer to eat something else. Do you ever have problems with leaf miners in your spinach? That's one reason I don't bother with spinach, the leaf miners always seem to get to it before I do.

Commonweeder, they are so big already because of the row covers. They really make the quickness of harvest better in the spring. The row covers keep the nights warmer so they grow faster. Really cold nights can slow things down.

Annie's Granny, mine have a bit of a bite because of our warm couple of weeks, but a good bite, not very strong.

michelle, I grow the spinach under a row cover too. That keeps out the leaf miners for the most part. If I didn't all the leaves would be destroyed. Or I'd have to hand pick the eggs. I do that for my chard, but the smaller spinach leaves are too hard to go through.

Vrtlarica, Sadly I may have no color next week. I suppose I have a couple of the radishes left in the garden.

Richard, thanks.

Momma_S, I'm a late cover to the French Breakfast radish. Last year I did a radish mix and it and the White Icicle were my favorites for taste.

A Kitchen Garden in Kihei Maui, thanks

Mac, if I planted them with my beans, I'd never get a harvest. They just won't grow well at other times of the year for me.

Ottawa Gardener, and tasty too. It is nice to have some non spinach greens this week.

Angela, I love radishes. They taste a bit like mushrooms to me but with crunch.

Marcia, Good for Emily. When I talk gardening to my mom she keeps thinking about putting some of her vegetable garden back in but she hasn't yet. She does have a nice greenhouse though for tomatoes.

Kelly, happy harvests to you too.

Miss M, it is a good one. I just wish I could grow them all year long.

Grafix Muse, I'm always a bit sad when the spinach bolts. It is my best early producer, then I have a bit of a dry spell.

Tyra, well we get to -5F or -20C in the winter. I don't know how cold you get there. When it starts to freeze, I cover them with a row cover (no hoops) and let them sit out there all winter long under the snow. They get much bigger than my spring spinach ever does. The leaves can be huge.

Oh, my, your spinach looks good enough to eat. But then that's the whole point, isn't it? I'm way late in posting my Harvest Monday, and am several Mondays behind. Too much to do. I harvested over 10 lbs of produce this past week.

I am very excited because next Monday I will have a photo to share! (although now that i have typed that I have probably jinxed myself) My parents are coming for dinner and I think the mesclun tray will be just right for cuttings!

About Me

I've been gardening for almost three decades now, ever since my husband and I bought our first house. Every garden has been different. The first was small and the soil was almost pure sand. The second was larger and I had heavy clay. The third and current one which is just outside of Boston, is by far the largest even though the lot is by far the smallest. Since we bought the house new, we designed the landscaping ourselves, and the soil we added was fairly good. My challenge here is the location. We are so close to our neighbors that their houses can shade the garden.